Researchers can now read scientific articles on drinking water treatments for free in the online DWES journal. The aim of this joint initiative of TU Delft and UNESCO-IHE is to increase accessibility to scientific publications, especially for researchers in developing countries.

Anyone can read the articles in the new online Drinking Water Engineering and Science (DWES, drinking-water-engineering-and-science/) journal for free; it is the author who pays for publication. Articles are subject to the usual peer review procedure of assessment by three referees.

One of the two editors-in-chief of DWES is Prof. Hans van Dijk of TU Delft: 'The journal's online format means that it is thoroughly contemporary: fast, open and with many opportunities for discussion. It fits in well with the way the current generation of PhD students work and think, and is in that way a logical progression.'

An author will pay about 400 euros for an article of ten pages. If an article is not published, it will be placed on the discussion section of the site so that it is still available to all.

Developing countries

By having the author pay, rather than the reader, those behind DWES hope to improve accessibility to scientific information in the field of drinking water treatment. 'This is particularly important for researchers in the developing countries,' says the other editor-in-chief of DWES, Prof. Gary Amy of UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft.

And authors from developing countries will find DWES especially attractive. Gary Amy: 'Scientists from the West pay slightly more to publish their work. This gives us the opportunity to allow scientists with lower budgets to publish their work too.'

Finally, Van Dijk: 'The journal's contemporary format means that we are leading the field. We were inspired by the success of HESS (Hydrology and Earth System Sciences) journal which was founded recently by Prof. Huub Savenije of TU Delft. 'Of course we have only just started, but we hope that our journal will be just as successful.'